Eggstraterrestrial Sleepover
by wolfypuppypiles
Summary: This is written for the wonderful jaspersvlogs on Tumblr I hope you like it! Tony gives Peter a real, live, alien egg for his science project and, predictably, things go wrong. How were they to know it could hypnotise people? Oh, yeah because Loki told them.
1. Chapter 1

(This is for the wonderful Jaspersvlogs on tumblr I hope you like it!)

"Peter, take notes."

The teenager nodded, grabbing his laptop and scooting eagerly forward in his seat, trying to see the specimen through the heavy, reinforced glass surrounding it.

Tony pointed to the object in question, raising an eyebrow at Peter. "What do we currently know about it?"

The kid glanced down at his computer. "Pretty much nothing. It fell from space and landed on earth three days ago. The trajectory suggests it came through the Triangulum galaxy but not necessarily from there. Its temperature was first recorded at around 4,500 Fahrenheit, which is more than double the temperature of lava, but it's been slowly cooling since it was found."

Peter shrugged. "So, basically we know it landed on earth and is super hot. We don't even know what species it is or where it's from."

Tony nodded, pleased. Peter was a smart kid and Tony couldn't wait to see the grade he'd get on what was going to be the best science project ever.

Peter had come to him with a research assignment on extraterrestrial biology and Tony had given him a real, live alien egg. The awed look in Peters wide brown eyes was priceless, as had been his grateful squeak. "Thanks, Mr Stark! I'm gonna have the best project in the whole school!"

Hell yeah, he was.

Tony tapped the glass of the containment unit. "What do we do first when studying the specimen?"

Peter opened his mouth to reply, only to be interrupted by an excited booming voice.

"Tony! You have a Darr'mor egg? Why didn't you tell me? I haven't seen one in a millennium!"

Tony frowned, confused as Thor ran in and pressed his hands to the glass, smiling at the egg excitedly. "Umm, what?"

Loki came in behind his brother, hands clasped behind his back as he peered at the egg with interest. He was markedly more resigned but clearly as eager as Thor as he spoke.

"Darr'mor? Your ancestors called them dragons. They're magnificent beasts that live on the embers of dying stars. Very rare."

"The hatchlings are so cute." Thor was practically cooing at the egg and Loki raised his eyebrows as he regarded his brother.

"I wouldn't think of petting one. It would melt your hand to the bone."

Peter hopped off his chair and put his laptop down, going over to the glass beside Thor, eyes huge with curiosity. "Dragons are real?!"

Thor nodded, raising his hands above his head and curling his fingers into claws in an imitation of the creature he was describing. "They're huge and fearsome! They burn so hot and fly through space so fast that sometimes your scientists think they're meteors! They breathe fire and have bellies full of lava!"

Peter was enthralled, forgetting all about his note-taking. "Whoa! That's so cool!"

The egg rumbled, the bright red shell around it bruising to grey as its audience watched, amazed.

Loki frowned, raising his hands as he backed away. "Not so cool anymore. This needs to be sent back to its parents."

The egg rumbled again, it's huge form, about half the size of Peter, shaking the ground beneath it. Tony pulled Peter back from the glass and stood in front of him protectively. "Why? Whats happening? Is it going to hatch?"

Thor shook his head, pointing to the black spreading over the eggs rough shell. "No, it's cooling down. The egg has to be kept warm or it'll die and if it cools too much-"

Loki finished his brothers sentence for him, voice rushed and panicked. "In order to survive, it'll send out signals to the brains of those around it."

Tony wrapped his arms around Peters' head, pulling him to his chest and pressing the kid's face to his shoulder. "What?!"

"It's like hypnosis! Anyone affected will have an uncontrollable urge to protect and warm the egg. Don't worry, it only happens when you're asleep."

Tony's hold relaxed on the teenager and Peter slipped from his grasp to watch Loki sneer at the egg. "What if we just warm up the egg, so it doesn't have to make anyone sleepwalk?"

Loki didn't bother looking his way. "Sure, have anything that burns as hot as a red giant?"

Peter deflated. "Oh. No."

Loki lifted a dramatic hand as if to silently say 'well, there you go then'. Tony wasn't interested in his unhelpful nonsense and addressed the nice Asgardian instead.

"Thor, what do we do here? Do we destroy it?"

The god looked offended, eyebrows furrowed over his eyes as he shook his head. "No! This is a rare and respectable creature, you can't kill it! We can't let it die. We must find its parents and send it back."

Peter didn't want to kill it either and pressed his hands to the glass next to Thor's. "How do we do that?"

Loki spoke up from across the room as he waved his hands over Tony's screens, having materialised there from where he'd previously been standing by the containment unit with the others.

"It will take me a few days but I should be able to use its heat signature to find that of its parents. Then we can send it back to them and hope they don't come and destroy us all for deigning to play with their youngling."

Tony threw up his hands, tired already. "Well, that's just great."

It was supposed to be a simple science project but nope, of course, it had to turn out to be complicated. He rubbed a hand over his forehead, feeling a headache forming.

"Sorry, Peter. We might have to find something else for you to study."

Peter, however, had no intention of leaving. His eyes were huge, pupils dilated till the iris was nothing but a thin ring hugging his ink black pupils. His voice was quiet and warm, with an edge of determination. He was not leaving that egg.

"No way. This is perfect."

…..

"Okay, kiddo. Off to bed." Tony placed his hand on the small of Peters back, pushing him down the hallway as the teenager groaned.

"I'm not a kid! I can hang out with you guys!"

Tony held in a laugh at Peters whining. He would have been plenty convincing if he hadn't been yawning through his last two words.

"Yeah, okay Pete. Whatever you say."

They'd been studying the egg, learning what they could from ancient texts on dragons and the stories that Thor and Loki regaled them with. Peter had sat there with a huge smile on his face as Thor stomped across the room, roaring and pretending to attack his brother who playfully pushed him away before using his magic to turn into a dragon in the middle of the living room.

Tony had watched Peter laugh, heart, warming pleasantly as the kid dodged a kick from the god of thunder as he tripped and fell over the couch in surprise. Loki melted back from a dragon to his usual form and laughed at his brother, who promptly got back to his feet and tackled him right over the coffee table. Peter had laughed so hard he'd almost fallen off his seat and Tony couldn't help but think the bill for the broken furniture was worth it.

But now it was bedtime for the little squirt, who had barely been able to keep his eyes open after dinner.

Tony pushed him towards his bedroom, having given the kid his own room in the compound months ago.

Peter groaned again and flopped face down onto his cushy queen bed, practically asleep already. Tony shook his head with a smile and started pulling Peters shoes off, before rolling the kid over and tucking him under the covers.

Peter didn't even open his eyes, snoring softly on as Tony ruffled his curly mop of hair. "Sweet dreams kiddo."

Unbeknownst to Tony, Peters dreams were anything but. They were filled with fire and the thumping, racing heartbeat of the creature that called out for him. It needed him, emplored him for his help and Peter did not possess the ability to say no.

So, halfway through the night, after Tony had just gone to sleep himself, Peter rolled out of bed.

His eyes opened, sluggish and glassy, unseeing, as his feet stumbled forward, walking him right out of his room and down the hall with a single purpose pushing him on. Protect the egg. Keep it warm.

…..

Loki missed Asgard. He'd never been woken up by an arachnid child stumbling down hallways in Asgard. Stupid mortals.

He rolled over in his silk sheets, glaring at his door as footsteps thumped outside his bedroom.

They weren't the heavy thumps of his brother's feet that he had heard since childhood, they were more like the clumsy stomps of someone that was walking around with their eyes closed.

Thump. Bang. Stomp.

Loki groaned and pressed his face into his pillow. Whatever was happening wasn't his problem. Stark could sort it out, it was his building.

The footsteps faded as whoever made the noise walked off further into the compound and Loki sighed, hoping to get back to sleep. And then the alarms started blaring.

Loki had had just about enough, flipping his sheets off and bursting out the door to see who was making such a fuss at such a ridiculous hour.

The sirens blared throughout the compound, alerting the occupants to some sort of danger, but Loki wasn't worried. He was just tired and annoyed.

He made his way down to where the commotion was coming from, silk robe fluttering around him as he hurried to the labs where the alarms were loudest. As he got closer, however, he began to hear other sounds too, which were far more disturbing than the sirens.

Something was being smashed, something that didn't want to be smashed. Loki ran faster, hearing grunting and crunching as he got closer to where the egg was being kept. Crap, the egg.

The god of mischief ran around the corner and into the lab, the sight greeting him far worse than he had hoped. There was the little arachnid himself, Stark's ward was the one making the racket, slamming his fist into the glass of the containment unit.

Loki paused in the doorway, shocked. He knew the kid was strong but he was being a little excessive. Peter didn't seem to notice him there, face blank as if in a trance as he slammed his fist over and over into the cracking glass keeping him from the egg.

His hand was covered in blood, smeared over his split knuckles as glass embedded itself further into his skin with each punch. Loki stood there frozen as the glass cracked under the pressure before Peters' hand was coming back, readying to strike again but there was something wrong with the shape of it. Something other than the streams of red flowing down to drip onto the floor and the shards of glass in his skin. His fingers were mangled, crumpled and broken. It must have been agony but it didn't seem to be slowing him down any.

Peter threw his ruined fist to the glass again, and this time Loki moved. He surged forward, making his way to the young Avenger, trying to get to him before he could cause any more damage.

He didn't get there fast enough, hearing instead, the awful, sickening crunch of bone as Peter broke his own wrist.

"Stop!" Loki grabbed the kid, pulling his good arm back and yanking him away from the glass.

Peter's face was blank, just as Loki had thought it would be, his eyes open but glassy. He was being affected by the egg. Of course, he would be, the kid couldn't keep out of trouble for more than five minutes.

Peter threw off his arm, pulling away from him and going back to the glass. He'd almost gotten through it, slamming one last kick to the cracks before it smashed open, the reinforced glass giving under Peter's strength.

Loki tried to grab him again, only for Peter to turn and kick the god, sending him soaring across the room to hit the wall and crash onto the ground.

It was only then that Tony and Bruce ran in. They sprinted into the room just in time to see Peter climb through the hole he'd made in the glass.

Tony reached forward, eyes wide with fear as he desperately called out. "Peter, stop!"

Peter hadn't known, probably wouldn't have cared in his trance had he known anyway, but Tony had set up a number of security protocols within the containment unit.

The strength needed to break through the glass could only be possessed by someone like the Hulk or Thor or an alien, all of whom would be able to withstand the nasty surprise that Tony had set up for anyone that broke through the containment unit.

But for Peter, it was too much. When he stepped inside it set off the electrical pulse that Tony had programmed, electricity running up from the floor to shock him. His whole body went rigid, muscles locking up in an instant.

Bruce called out, voice panicked. "Friday, turn it off!"

Thor ran in, still looking half asleep as he made his way to his brother, helping Loki off the floor.

"What's going on?"

Loki didn't answer, still watching the kid. He may not have been as fond of him as everyone else seemed to be but he did care and it was an awful sight.

Peter was shaking slightly, the electricity running through him locking him up like a statue but when Friday turned the current off he dropped like a stone.

A soft breath left his mouth, eyes rolling up into his head as he fell to the floor, boneless. His ruined arm lay, disfigured and bleeding.

Tony made his way to the wrecked containment unit, voice warped with fear.

"No, no, no. Peter? God, what happened?"

His eyes suddenly turned to Loki, eyes accusing and voice hard. "Was this you?!"

He had a right to think so, with Loki not being the most trustworthy person and all, but the god still frowned. "No!"

Loki groaned as Thor pulled him up from the floor, brushing himself off. "He's been affected by the egg. He wasn't in control."

Tony knelt beside the teenager, placing his fingers on the kid's throat gingerly, trying to be careful not to move him before Bruce looked him over. "I thought it just made people sleepwalk? This is insane, he's-"

Tony's confused frown slipped from his face, eyes widening in fear as his breath halted in his chest, words quiet and shaky. "Bruce, his heart...it's not beating."

Bruce ran over as Tony's hand slipped away from Peters' neck. Thor sprinted over and dropped to his knees in the mess, not bothered by the broken glass littering the ground.

The god of thunder slipped his careful hands under the teenager and turned him onto his back, Peter limp as a ragdoll in his hold. Bruce looped his hands under Tony's arms and dragged him back, away from the kid as Thor started chest compressions, knowing Tony and Bruce didn't have the strength needed to manipulate Peters' ribs.

"One, two, three, four- Bruce fix him!" The god panted as he pressed down on Peters breastbone while Bruce grabbed supplies from the, thankfully, well-stocked lab.

"Is he breathing?"

Thor kept pressing down, rhythmic pumps of his hands forcing Peters heart to beat, before he paused, holding his hand above the kid's mouth. Nothing. "No."

He resumed chest compressions as Bruce came back with what he needed, pulling out an Ambu bag and placing the mask over Peters' face.

"Come on, kid. Come back to us." He and Thor worked in tandem to get Peter's heart going again, Thor counting out compressions before pausing and allowing Bruce to pump air into Peter's mouth, both waiting to see if he would breathe on his own before resuming their ministrations when he didn't.

Tony's chest rose and fell in choppy heaves as he stared at Peters lax face, mangled arm laying out amongst the sea of glass scattered across the floor. His voice was rough, choked by fear that wrapped around his throat and squeezed with every push down of Thor's hands on Peters' chest.

"Bruce is he…?" The word didn't come, stuck in Tony's throat, but Bruce knew what he meant. He shook his head, not having time to look behind him at Tony as he answered.

"No. We'll get him back." Peter wasn't dead. His heart may have stopped but he wasn't dead until they gave up. His brain was still alive, there was still time, but the longer he went without oxygen the harder it would be to pull him back.

Bruce didn't want to do it but the compressions weren't enough and he had no choice but to pull out the defibrillator.

"Dammit, Peter." He dragged the gear towards him, ignoring the scraping of glass underneath it, and charged it up, hearing Tony's breathing pick up further with the whine of the machine.

Thor watched Bruce carefully, waiting for the nod to stop compressions. Once it was given he sat back as Bruce tore Peters' shirt open, exposing his unmoving chest to the night air.

Tony made a strangled noise at the back of his throat as Bruce slapped the pads onto Peters' skin.

"Clear!"

Thor raised his hands away from Peter, giving the call. "Clear."

Tony couldn't look. He couldn't bear the sight of Bruce pushing that button, electricity arcing through Peter, muscles clenching and back raising off the floor only to thump back to the ground. He couldn't bear to watch Peters lifeless body being shocked, pale and empty. It was too...corpse-like.

The sound was bad enough. The whine of the electricity, the heavy smack of Peters body hitting the floor. Tony could barely take it.

Especially not when it didn't work. Bruce cursed, low and angry as he tried again. "Clear!"

Tony turned his face away, hand over his eyes as Peters' form once again strained upwards with the force of the shock racing through his body. He clenched his teeth at the slap of Peters' back hitting the ground, and closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to see the blood pooling under Peters' broken fingers.

But finally, it came. The sound he'd been waiting for. Peter sucked a thin breath into rattling lungs and Bruce sighed, exhausted.

"He's back."

(Please tell me what you think? There is another chapter coming)


	2. Chapter 2

Bruce pointed to the x-ray he'd hung up, voice tired. "This area here had to be totally reconstructed. His bones were in fragments. The only reason he still has a hand at all is because I called Dr Strange."

Tony sat slumped in the chair beside Peters bed; having been in it far too many times, watching helplessly as Peter recovered. He was as tired as Bruce, having stayed up all night waiting for Peter to come out of surgery.

"I've never been happier to have him in our Rolodex, believe me, but please just get to the point and tell me if he's going to be okay."

Bruce nodded, putting his hands in his coat pockets.

"Stephen's the best so, yes with his healing he'll be fine. But it will be painful for a while."

Tony looked at where Peter was laying, sleeping soundly under the influence of some heavy ass drugs. His eyes were closed, face thankfully free of any pain. Tony could barely stand to look at his arm.

It had taken far too long to fix him, his fingers broken and torn apart, now held together with pins and splints, stitches running through the skin over his knuckles. God, if Peter didn't heal so quickly he would have been permanently disfigured.

Tony pulled his eyes away from the white strips of bandages wrapped around Peters' fingers and look instead to his feet.

"What about the burns?"

The electric shock Peter had endured had come up from the floor, and his bare feet had taken the brunt of the damage.

Bruce gestured to Peters feet and the pristine dressings covering them like socks on cold toes. "They'll be okay. They're only second degree, but like his hand, it'll be very sore and he absolutely can not use them. He needs to rest and let them heal. Let it all heal."

Tony rubbed a hand over his face, fingers digging into his skull to try and focus. "If this egg keeps affecting him we may not be able to stop him. He didn't stop when he smashed his own hand, Bruce. How are we supposed to keep him from wandering around again? It took stopping his heart to end it last time and we can't do that again."

Bruce took a seat, slumping on the stool as he tapped at a screen beside Peters bed. "I know but we'll figure something out. We always do. And don't go blaming yourself for it either, you may have technically killed him for a few minutes but if you hadn't he would have gotten to the Darr'mor egg and had his hands melted off."

Tony didn't bother arguing. Bruce may have been right but that didn't mean he couldn't blame himself anyway. He changed the subject instead, pushing the focus off him and back onto the broken boy in the bed.

"How's his heart? Any damage?"

Bruce shook his head, flicking through scans and readings. "No, I did an echo and it's fine. No scarring even, which was a genuine concern. Thor did break a few of his ribs when he did CPR and he's going to heavily bruise, but he's alive. That's what matters."

Tony didn't say anything, knowing he'd only get a lecture if he did. Being grateful that Peter had survived seemed like such a consolation prize. Like, sure you failed to protect him and he's seriously messed up but hey, you didn't kill him all the way, just a little.

Bruce had known Tony for a long time and he knew exactly what was going through his head. He kept his voice soft, knowing Tony would only push him away if he offered comfort but unwilling to allow him to wallow.

"Hey, we'll try to warm up the egg, give Peter some time to heal before it affects him again. We'll...I don't know, find some lava and drop it in or-"

Tony scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest like a sulking toddler as he glared at the floor. "Oh, sure. That'll help. You know what Loki said, nothing we have is hot enough. Lava for this stupid space dragon is like putting a tissue on Thor and calling it a blanket."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "You're determined to sulk aren't you?"

Tony lifted his gaze to his friend and raised his eyebrows, stubborn. "Yes, I am."

Bruce shook his head, wishing Tony would try and help solve their problem instead of just sitting there upset. "Moping isn't going to help Peter."

"I beg to differ." Tony was being childish and he knew it, but he also wasn't completely stupid. He was thinking of ways to help Peter and stop the egg, but the same thought kept coming back to his mind. The image of Thor flinging the egg back into the black cold maw of space. No egg, no problem. He hated the thing, he didn't want it in his lab anymore.

A groan came from the bed beside him and his head snapped to the sound, finding Peter frowning as his breaths came in quick pants.

"Peter?"

Bruce leaned over his patient as Tony got to his feet, the both of them watching the teenager eagerly.

Peter still had his eyes shut, scrunching them closed as he gasped, pain and sensation coming back to him all at once. Crap, he hurt. His chest and head and arm and feet and oh god he could feel the, unfortunately familiar, invasion of pins keeping his bones together and the sharp pull of stitches.

His heart monitor beeped too fast as he tried to push past the drugs and wake up all the way, and he felt a wide hand press gently against his chest.

"Just lay still, Peter. Take a breath in through your nose."

Peter did as he was told, relaxing his muscles despite the pain running through them and pulled in a lungful of oxygen that his nasal cannula provided.

He was still feeling slow from the pain meds running through him, a little more thanks to Bruce adjusting the dose as he woke, and Peter found it hard to talk, tongue clumsy and thick. "Wha' happened? I don' memember."

Another hand gripped his shoulder and Peter turned his head towards Tony's voice as it came from above him. "That's not surprising since you were actually asleep for the whole thing."

That hadn't helped to clear things up at all. Peter's eyebrows came down over his eyes as he finally blinked them open. "What?"

Tony was there with Bruce, smiling down at Peter as he blinked his blurry vision clear.

"Hey, kiddo. It's good to see you awake. How do you feel?"

Peter took a moment to catalogue everything that hurt but quickly decided that he didn't want to focus on it at all. He hurt so bad and he didn't even know what had happened which just made the whole situation scary.

A small whimper fell from his mouth as his good hand curled into a fist around his sheets. "It hurts. I don't like it."

Tony's face went hard, eyes furious and voice hard. "That's it. I'm going to destroy that egg."

Peter frowned again, wondering if he'd hit his head at some point because nothing was making sense. "What?"

Bruce sighed. "Tony-"

"No, I'm smashing it. It hurt Peter and I won't let it do that again." Tony curled his fingers into fists and went to walk away, only for Peter to grab the hem of his shirt with his good hand and pull him back.

"Wait, are you talking about the dragon egg?"

Tony nodded, eyes dark with guilt as he regarded Peter and the small frown on his face, eyes still just a little glassy. "Yes. It did it's stupid hypnotising thing and made you sleepwalk. You broke through the containment unit, after practically destroying your hand, and made you keep going until you were…"

Tony looked away and Bruce spoke softly as if hoping Peter wouldn't hear. "That wasn't your fault, Tony. We've already talked about it, okay?"

Tony waved a hand as if flicking his friend's concern to the side. "It doesn't matter. It can't hurt Peter if it's dead."

Peters' hand tugged on the mechanics shirt again and Tony looked down, surprised, as the kid croaked out a plea. "You can't kill it!"

Tony's eyebrows furrowed as he searched Peters face for any sign that he was still being affected by the egg, only speaking when he found none. "Why not?"

"It's just a baby, it didn't do anything wrong." Peter's doe eyes were in full adorable force, begging Tony not to kill the thing that almost killed him.

"Peter it hurt you." Didn't he understand? Tony didn't know how Peter couldn't hate the thing, especially since Tony knew how bad the kid's pain was, crinkles at the corner of his eyes giving him away.

But the teenager only shook his head, adamant. "It didn't mean to. It's just trying to survive. It's cold."

Tony fought the very strong urge to roll his eyes because of course Peter would stick up for it.

Bruce, the sap, offered his own opinion. "He has a point."

Tony gave him a very unimpressed glare before going back to the teenager. "It's dangerous. If you had been attacked by a shark would you stick up for it too?"

Peter tilted his head on his pillow, earnest voice breaking down Tony's will. "Sharks don't attack people unless they're forced to. Most of the time it's our fault for being in their space or for messing with their reefs. Plus, sharks don't actually like eating people. Most sharks bite surfers because they think they're turtles. That's why they only take one bite, cause we are so not what they ordered. So, yes. If a shark bit me I would make sure no one hurt it."

Tony covered his eyes with his hand, digging his fingers into his temples as he tried to keep his patience. Of course, he would say that. Why did he expect anything less?

A laugh bubbled up in his chest, falling from his mouth in a burst of giggles. "You are so consistent."

He dropped his hand, feeling considerably better than he had before. Classic Peter, helping in ways he didn't even know he was. "Fine. I won't kill it but we need to come up with a plan to keep you safe until Loki can find it's parents and send it back to them."

Peters breath hitched a little as he shifted in the bed and Tony quickly pulled his thin fingers from his shirt and held them tight instead. "You could tie me down? You have those reinforced cuffs, right?"

Bruce shook his head. "No, you'd just cause yourself more harm. After seeing what you did to your hand I have no doubt that you'd fight so hard you'd dislocate every joint in your arms until you got out. And I love you Pete but you're not humpty dumpty. I don't want to have to put you back together again."

Tony winced in sympathy as Peter looked down at his reconstructed hand and fingers, face paling as he grew nauseous just thinking about it. "I think we've had enough of that."

Peter nodded, eyes wide. "Yeah, me too. But how else are we going to stop it?"

Tony didn't say anything, not having a good answer. Loki had already told them that getting Peter away from the egg wouldn't matter. He could be on the other side of town and still do anything he could to get back to the egg which presented a very troubling image of Peter sleepwalking through traffic or off the side of a building.

Bruce hummed, looking at Tony from the corner of his eye as if embarrassed. "I may have an idea. It's...a little weird but we don't have many options so, you can't make fun of me for it."

Tony narrowed his eyes at him, promising nothing. "Noted. What is it?"

…

Tony shook his head, glaring at his friend. "You're an idiot. No, seriously for someone who has seven PHD's you're a real moron."

Bruce frowned at him, offended. "Tony-"

"This is ridiculous!"

Bruce glared at him, though Tony wasn't looking at him to appreciate it. "Do you have a better idea?"

Tony scowled, looking down the hallway at their work. "You know I don't."

Bruce raised his chin, annoyed. "Then, shut up."

Tony rolled his eyes so hard his head hurt, feeling absolutely ridiculous about their so-called 'plan'. He should have been able to think of something better, he was a genius for god sakes, but Bruce was right and they didn't exactly have a lot of options to choose from. But Peppermint? Really?

…

Bruce looked down at his watch, yawning as Tony took another sip of coffee. "He should be up soon. Friday recorded his first sleepwalk at around- Tony, you've had enough of that, put it down."

Tony scowled at his friend, sinking down into his plush leather sofa that he'd had Thor drag out into the hallway for them to sit in while they waited for the midnight showing of Peters sleepwalking.

"I'm a grown man, Brucie and if I want six cups of coffee I will have them."

Bruce nudged him with his elbow as he grumbled. "Yeah, and I'm the grown man that's going to have to save your ass when you have a coronary."

Tony smacked Bruce's arm back, the both of them wired and grumpy, next to the calm and smiling Thor, who rolled his giant, head-sized mug in his palms happily.

"I quite enjoy coffee. I even told Loki about it. Didn't I, brother?" He lifted one hand to slap on his brother's chest in comradery, spilling the god of mischiefs espresso from his tiny cup.

Loki jumped as the drink splashed over his lap, voice low and deadly. "Yes. You did."

Thor was still smiling as Loki drew his knives from his sleeves and pointed one at his brother's neck, grinning cheekily as he was about to give him a little warning cut.

Bruce suddenly whispered, interrupting Loki's plans as all four men looked to Peter's bedroom door in front of them. "He's coming. Shhh."

Loki sheathed his knives once more and leaned forward, eagerly watching as Peters door creaked open.

The kid's hair was ruffled, sticking up to the side from where he'd slept on it and his eyes were barely open but on he trudged. Bruce winced as he watched Peter shuffle forward, knowing how badly it would hurt when he woke. His poor burnt feet were wrapped in bandages with as much burn gel as he could get inside them.

He made his way out of his room, arm braced tightly in a sling, strapped to his chest so that he couldn't use it. He didn't seem to notice any of them sitting there watching him as he stumbled down the hallway towards the labs.

Except, he wouldn't get very far.

The four men stood from the couch, following quietly behind the teenager, Thor's voice low.

"How does this work, again? He doesn't like the smell of...candy?"

Peter wobbled down the hall, about to make a turn, when he scrunched his nose instead and turned his face away.

Bruce whispered back to the Asgardian, eyes glued to his patient. "Spiders don't like the smell of peppermint so, it can be used as a natural repellent. I was hoping it would work on Spider-man as well and it seems I was right. Tony, you owe me a ride in your suit."

Tony shook his head. "No way, you'll throw up in it on the first turn."

Bruce had been right though. Peter turned his face away and chose the path away from the labs, just like they'd planned and Tony grumbled begrudgingly.

"You can drive the Jaguar."

Bruce smiled, smug as Peter wobbled on his injured feet, down another turn.

The plan was going nicely, even if Peter had bumped into the wall a few times, making all four men "oooh" in sympathy for the kids broken fingers.

Tony gently steered Peter away from the wall and sent him back on course, right to the lounge that they had set up for him.

Thor patted Loki's back as they entered after Peter, voice low and excited. "Your turn, brother."

The god of mischief clicked his fingers, almost bored, as the room shimmered and melted into an image of the labs, complete with a containment unit and egg inside.

Only, this egg wasn't the egg that Peter was searching for. It had been enchanted by Loki to look like the real thing, with a little bit of heat to convince the sleepwalker that he had completed his mission.

Peter made his way to the giant egg and wrapped his good arm around it, using his strength to lift it easily from the projected table.

Tony had to admit he was impressed. He hadn't thought it would work but apparently, Bruce had been right when he'd proposed the idea.

"Peter and the egg don't have a psychic link, it's just the instinct to protect and warm it. So, all we have to do is convince him that he has the egg, there's no reason for him to actually get it. As long as he thinks it's the right one, it'll work."

Loki's mouth quirked up in a smile as he watched Peter waddle down the hallway with the fake egg, heading back to his room to protect and warm it.

Tony shook his head, smiling too as they carefully followed the kid. "Poor little guy. I know this is mean and I'm supposed to be his mentor and all but...Friday, record this, will you?"

The AI complied, security cameras sending the video to Tony's phone as it recorded Peter walking away with his prize.

Bruce frowned, whispering admonishingly. "Tony."

The mechanic shrugged, still laughing. "What? It's funny."

Thor chuckled beside him, wide smile lighting up his face. "It is quite amusing. Loki used to play tricks like this on me all the time. I remember one night, after a lengthy battle, he enchanted my nurse to look like a lovely maiden, with beautiful hair and magnificent bre-"

Tony cleared his throat, and Thor moved on. "Anyway, I was about to ask if she'd like to see Mjölnir when Loki lifted his charm and I realised I was being tended to by an argmendion ogre. He was not as friendly as Loki's charm made him out to be."

Loki snickered, proud of his trick. "That was a good one."

Bruce narrowed his eyes at the gods. "When you say you were about to show her...him, Mjölnir you do mean your hammer, right?"

Thor just smiled and Bruce shook his head. "Gross, man."

Tony smacked the back of his hand against Thor's giant bicep as Peter turned into his doorway. "Guys, look. I think it's worked."

Peter carried his egg over to his bed and set it down in the middle of the mattress, eyes blinking, glassy and tired. He climbed on top and curled up over the faux egg, like the mother Darr'mor would have to warm it. The men watched as Peter curled up around it and pulled his blankets to cover himself and his egg before he sighed contentedly and fell back to sleep.

Bruce smiled. "See, I told you it would work. No damage this time."

Tony looked down at his phone, laughing under his breath. "Yeah, except for this video. I'm so sending this to Ned."

….

Peter woke slowly, pain registering as his dreams dissipated. He hadn't had any of his normal dreams, like the ones where he fought with the Avengers or even the decathlon he was forced to go to naked and with no warning that he'd have to answer the questions in French.

It had been something about a beautiful woman who turned into...Thor swinging his hammer around? He'd never had that one before.

Peter blinked his eyes open, grunting as his feet burned and his arm ached. When had his bed gotten so damn uncomfortable? What was he laying on?

A familiar voice met his ears then, warmed with barely contained laughter. "You okay there, Pete?"

Peter looked over to where the avenger was sitting in a chair at the end of his bed. "Mr Stark? What are you doing in here? Why do I hurt so much?"

Tony pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh at the poor boy as he pointed to what Peter was curled on top of. "You uh, you went for a little wander last night and we couldn't have you getting hurt again so...we gave you what you wanted. Kind of."

Peter looked down, frowning in confusion. A small squeak left his mouth and Tony couldn't hold it in any longer and he burst out laughing.

"Mr Stark? Why the hell am I snuggling with a watermelon?"

After Tony had finished laughing they made their way back to the real egg in the lab, where Loki was lounging on a chair, cutting up fruit as if there weren't poisonous chemicals all around him.

He smiled when the two walked in. Well, Tony walked in, Peter was carried by Thor so that he wouldn't have to hurt his feet. Loki lifted an apple, eyes lit with amusement. "Good morning, Parker. Would you like this apple? Or how about this pear? Does it look particularly cuddly to you?"

Thor held Peter in a bridal carry, one-handed, and used his other to shove Loki so hard he fell off his chair and onto the floor.

"Shut up, Loki."

Loki recovered, getting off the ground and brushing himself off as Thor placed Peter down in a chair.

Bruce looked up from his computer, equations and calculations running through his head. "Loki, have you located the eggs parents yet? Can we send it back to them now?"

The Asgardian in question went back to cutting his fruit, languidly leaning against the bench as he answered, not bothering to look up. "I found them yesterday, a little after you told me the plan for last night."

Tony's jaw dropped, eyebrows burrowing towards his eyes as he glared, voice hard. "Why didn't you tell us? We could have already sent it back by now!"

Loki shrugged, uncaring of Tony's anger. "The plan sounded amusing. I didn't want to miss it. And I was right, it was very funny."

The god laughed, unaware of the chair Thor had thrown as it soared towards his face.


End file.
